Predicting Georgia football, 12-team College Football Playoff field after Week 9

The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings are set to be released in one week. And after a wild college football season up to this point, the CFP rankings this season are going to be as unpredictable as ever.

With one more week remaining before the first CFP bracket is released, here is our projection for the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, which includes a high ranking for Kirby Smart and Georgia.

Projected 12-team CFP bracket

Key Takeaways

Many college football fans felt that Indiana did not belong in the playoff last season, but that is not the case this year. In fact, they have as good of an argument as anyone to be ranked No. 1 after beating Oregon on the road two weeks ago. Ohio State has held steady at No. 1 in the AP Poll for much of this season, but the committee does not care about where teams were ranked at the start of the season. The Hoosiers have the better resume up to this point and will steal the top spot from Ohio State.

Georgia is comfortably sliding in at No. 5 which matches their ranking in the AP Poll. UGA unfortunately is unable to move up any higher until one of the four teams above them loses, so Georgia will need some help if they are going to earn a first round bye this season.

South Florida at this point has the best chance of earning the Group of Five's automatic bid. The 2025 playoff bracket is a little different because no team is guaranteed a top four seed, but one spot is still held for the highest ranked Group of Five team which at this point is USF.

To no one's surprise, the SEC and Big Ten are dominating the playoff field. The two conferences combine for eight of the 12 spots, but it's the SEC leading the way with five selections. And looking at the remaining schedules for those five teams, there is a chance they all end up making the field this season.